April 15, 2020 / Lisette Voytko, Forbes Staff
TOPLINE – The first U.S. coronavirus saliva testing site opens Wednesday in New Jersey after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the method, which healthcare experts say is quicker, more scalable and safer to administer as the virus continues to spread across the country.
KEY FACTS
- The saliva testing method was developed by a Rutgers University lab, NBC New York reported, and the FDA granted emergency authorization for it on Friday.
- President Trump hailed the saliva test during his Tuesday press briefing: “I call it innovation under pressure.”
- Patients take the test by spitting into a saliva collection device, which saves swabs used for nasal tests and decreases the amount of contact between healthcare workers and patients.
- proprietary solution detects the virus in the saliva, according to NBC, and the turnaround for results is 24 to 48 hours.
- Thousands of saliva samples can be processed daily, said Stephen Fanning, president of Utah Spectrum Solutions, a biotech firm that worked on the saliva test.
- It remains unclear if enough of the virus will be present in saliva to produce consistently reliable results, ABC News reported, but a Rutgers review of a small sample size submitted to the FDA showed the saliva test was just as reliable as nasal swab testing.
